Bible Basics

What Are the Earliest Versions and Translations of the Bible?
by Brennan Breed

What follows is an overview of the major versions and translations of the biblical text. Other versions and translations exist, but the ones discussed below are important both historically and for their continuing use by various contemporary communities of faith.

The earliest copies of the Hebrew Bible were written without vowels or accents, as written Hebrew did not represent vowels until the Middle Ages. To preserve traditional spoken readings, starting in the fifth century C.E., a group of Jewish scribes known as the Masoretes carefully selected, copied, and annotated biblical scrolls, adding vowels and accents to the ancient Hebrew consonants in the process. Though the Masoretic scribes added these vowels to the ancient text long after it had been written, they were likely preserving traditional vocalizations that dated to much earlier times. The Masoretes produced several different systems of vocalization (writing in vowels) between 500 and 700 C.E.

Until the last few decades, most biblical scholars believed that the Masoretic biblical texts were, with some exceptions, the best witnesses to the most ancient Hebrew text of the Hebrew Bible (what Christians sometimes call the Old Testament).

Recent discoveries from the Dead Sea Scrolls, however, suggest that there were several different versions of many biblical books in the Second Temple period. Some of these versions differed only slightly from each other, but some versions were very different. After the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Romans in 70 C.E., Jewish groups dispersed across the ancient world, preserving these versions of the Hebrew Scriptures in their communities. One of these groups preserved the texts that would later become the Masoretic Text. Others are preserved in versions such as the Septuagint, the earliest Greek translation.

In the 10th century C.E., the ben Asher scribal family of Tiberias produced a manuscript of the Hebrew Bible that Maimonides, a famous Jewish scholar, declared to be the best known version of the sacred text. Soon after, the Tiberian Masoretic text and its particular version of vowels and annotations became the standard, authoritative text of the Hebrew Bible for rabbinic Judaism. The most important Masoretic medievalmanuscripts are the Aleppo Codex, which dates to the 10th century C.E., and the Leningrad Codex, which dates to 1009 C.E.

The Masoretic Text is the version held as authoritative and used liturgically in most synagogues today. The Catholic Church since the time of Jerome (fourth century C.E.) and most Protestant Christian churches use this version as their source text for modern translations.

Old Greek (OG) or Septuagint

The earliest translation of the Hebrew Bible is the Old Greek (OG), the translation made in Alexandria, Egypt, for the use of the Greek-speaking Jewish community there. At first, just the Torah was translated, in the third century B.C.E.; the rest of the biblical books were translated later. The whole Hebrew Bible was likely translated into ancient Greek by the middle of the second century B.C.E.

Scholars think that many OG translators worked from early Hebrew versions of biblical books that were quite different from those versions that became the MT. As a result, some biblical books, such as Daniel, Jeremiah, and Job, are longer or shorter in the OG version of the Bible than they are in the MT.

We now know from discoveries in the Dead Sea region that these alternate Hebrew versions were circulated alongside the versions that became the MT. It is not clear that one Hebrew version was preferred over the others. In any event, the OG translators sometimes chose versions very similar to those later chosen for the MT version, and other times the translators chose versions that were very different.

At the time the Bible was translated into Greek, there was no MT or any official or authorized Bible in existence. There were merely multiple editions of many scrolls of various perceived levels of sacredness. In fact, it seems that there wasn’t an official project to translate “the Bible” into ancient Greek; instead, many different Greek-speaking Jews in various times and places simply translated their favorite books into ancient Greek. Some of these books were later chosen to be included in the Bible, and some were not. It was only many centuries later that people began to choose the best of these Greek translations and to copy them all together as if they were one book. So, it can be said that the Bible was translated in its entirety before there even was a Bible!

Eventually, early Christians adopted the OG as their preferred version of the Hebrew Bible. Most Jews in Greek-speaking lands returned to using the Hebrew version that would later become the MT. Christians then added bits and pieces to what had already been added by Jewish editors and translators, and the resulting text used in early Christian liturgy (and still used by Eastern Orthodox Churches) is called the Septuagint.

Christians then translated the Greek version into many other languages, such as Latin (the Old Latin version, completed by the third century C.E.), African languages such as Coptic (third century C.E.), Asian languages such as Armenian (circa fifth century C.E.), and Arabic (ninth century C.E.).

Aramaic

Because the Jews in Palestine spoke mostly Aramaic by the time the biblical books were coming into their final forms, translations were required even while the finishing touches were being put on the texts. For example, some parts of the Aramaic translation of the Torah, called Targum Onqelos, probably go back as far as 100 B.C.E. Others, such as Targum Psalms, date from as late as 600 C.E. These Aramaic translations are usually called targums, the Aramaic word for “translation.” Some targums are more literal, and others are more expansive and creative. Some biblical books have a number of different targums made from them, whereas for others we can only find one.

The Syriac language was spoken by Jews in northern Syria; they translated their Bible into Syriac at various points in the second century C.E. Several translators worked on this project, so the quality and style of translation varies. The Peshitta (which means “simple,” that is, a plain translation without textual comments) was prepared for the use of Jews. Later, Syriac-speaking Christians adopted the Peshitta and added a Syriac version of the New Testament, although the far-Eastern Christian churches seemed not to include several New Testament letters or the book of Revelation.

In the second century C.E., a Christian named Tatian decided to harmonize all four canonical Greek Gospels and, at the same time, translate them into Syriac. Because the four Gospels seem to exhibit some discrepancies, Tatian rewrote them so that they would not conflict. Although Tatian’s harmonization was very popular in the East until the fifth century C.E., other early Christian interpreters such as Irenaeus urged Christians to maintain all four (separate) canonical Gospels. The tradition of four separate Gospels continues in almost all Christian churches to this day.

The New Testament

By the end of the first and the beginning of the second century C.E., various Gospels, narratives, letters, and apocalyptic writings, all written in a broadly used dialect of Greek named koine, or “common,” were being used by various Christian communities.

Selection among these sacred texts, and from the Hebrew Bible, for public reading in Christian worship probably began the process of canonization of Christian writings. When disputes broke out about beliefs or traditions, the canonical status of the various Christian writings became a touchstone in the debates.

Official lists of books in or out of the canon only began to appear in the fourth century C.E., as a result of particular theological disputes, usually about the divinity of Jesus or the Trinity. However, Christian canon lists remained fluid through the seventh century; during this time, books such as the Shepherd of Hermas or the forged Epistle to the Laodiceans could be found in certain Christian Bibles.

Overall, by the end of the fourth century C.E. there was general agreement about which books should have scriptural status. Although early Christians wrote quite a few letters and books, only a few became widely accepted. For a work to be considered sacred in the fourth century and beyond, it seems that it had to claim apostolic authority: the work had to be written or authorized by one of the earliest Christian leaders, especially Paul and the twelve apostles. Apostolic authority required that the books be consistent with the teachings about Jesus and the Trinity that were found in other accepted books and that were current in fourth-century Christianity. As a result, books such as the Gospel of Peter were rejected from most Christian canon lists, and some of the writings deemed noncanonical were lost and only rediscovered in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Contributors

Brennan Breed is assistant professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. Much of his research focuses on the reception history of the Bible, which studies the ways in which biblical texts function in diverse contexts in liturgy, theology, visual art, literature, and politics.

Since the eighteenth century, Bible scholars have divided the textual sources for the New Testament, primarily Greek manuscripts, into textual groupings, or ”text types,” such as Alexandrian, Western, and Byzantine.

The Lord’s Prayer has a rich and complex history: from its Aramaic origin, it has been translated and preserved in different versions by Matthew and Luke, and further transmitted in multiple forms in the Greek manuscripts and other textual witnesses.

This timeline looks at the journey of the New Testament text from its earliest manuscripts to the scholarly editions of today. It focuses primarily on the ancient languages and not the English translations (see also the History of the Bible in English timeline).

HarperCollins Dictionary

one of the oldest (ca. 930 CE) and most important, but no longer complete, existing examples of the Masoretic Text

The idea that Christian doctrines and bishops obtain their authority through a lineage going back to the original apostles.

Trustworthy; reliable; of texts, the best or most primary edition.

An authoritative collection of texts generally accepted as scripture.

Belonging to the canon of a particular group; texts accepted as a source of authority.

A text of pages bound leaf style, like a modern book—as opposed to a scroll, which has no discrete pages.

The final stage of the Egyptian language, which also lent its name to the Coptic Church, the Egyptian branch of Orthodox Christianity.

A collection of Jewish texts (biblical, apocryphal, and sectarian) from around the time of Christ that were preserved near the Dead Sea and rediscovered in the 20th century.

A variant of a language, characteristic of a certain group of speakers.

A detailed letter, written in formal prose. Most of the New Testament books beyond the gospels are epistles (letters written to early Christians).

A gospel is an account that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

A West Semitic language, in which most of the Hebrew Bible is written except for parts of Daniel and Ezra. Hebrew is regarded as the spoken language of ancient Israel but is largely replaced by Aramaic in the Persian period.

The set of Biblical books shared by Jews and Christians. A more neutral alternative to "Old Testament."

People who study a text from historical, literary, theological and other angles.

A Christian priest and theologian from around 400 C.E.; his translation of the Bible into Latin, called the Vulgate, became the definitive Bible translation for over a thousand years.

The religion and culture of Jews. It emerged as the descendant of ancient Israelite Religion, and is characterized by monotheism and an adherence to the laws present in the Written Torah (the Bible) and the Oral Torah (Talmudic/Rabbinic tradition).

the oldest complete manuscript (ca. 1010 CE) of the Masoretic Text; used as the basis of many modern editions of the Hebrew Bible

The standardized collection of practices—ceremonies, readings, rituals, songs, and so forth—related to worship in a religious tradition.

Textual documents, usually handwritten.

A group of medieval scribes who preserved and transmitted the written Hebrew text and developed the system of vowel markings that eventually were added to the consonantal text.

Relating to the Masoretes, a group of medieval scribes who preserved and transmitted the written Hebrew text of the Bible. Or, the Masoretic Text itself, an authoritative Hebrew text of the Hebrew Bible.

The authoritative Hebrew text of the Hebrew Bible, containing both the consonants and the vowels (unlike the Dead Sea Scrolls, which have no vowels). The earliest existing copies of the Masoretic Text date to the 10th century C.E.

Of or relating to the Middle Ages, generally from the fifth century to the fifteenth century C.E. and overlapping somewhat with late antiquity.

The historical period generally spanning from the fifth century to the fifteenth century C.E. in Europe and characterized by decreases in populations and the degeneration of urban life.

A collection of first-century Jewish and early Christian writings that, along with the Old Testament, makes up the Christian Bible.

Of or related to textual materials that are not part of the accepted biblical canon.

Also called the Hebrew Bible, those parts of the canon that are common to both Jews and Christians. The designation "Old Testament" places this part of the canon in relation to the New Testament, the part of the Bible canonical only to Christians. Because the term "Old Testament" assumes a distinctly Christian perspective, many scholars prefer to use the more neutral "Hebrew Bible," which derives from the fact that the texts of this part of the canon are written almost entirely in Hebrew.

Of or belonging to any of several branches of Christianity, especially from Eastern Europe and the Middle East, whose adherents trace their tradition back to the earliest Christian communities. Lowercase ("orthodox"), this term means conforming with the dominant, sanctioned ideas or belief system.

Another name often used for the area of Israel and Judah, derived from the Latin term for the Roman province of Palaestina; ultimately, the name derives from the name of the Philistine people.

The version of the Bible used by churches in the Syriac tradition.

The structure built in Jerusalem in 516 B.C.E. on the site of the Temple of Solomon, destroyed by the Babylonians seventy years prior. The Second Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. by the Romans responding to Jewish rebellion.

An early Christian allegory from the first or second century C.E. that depicts visions appearing to a former slave.

A dialect of Aramaic, common among a number of early Christian communities.

Relating to thought about the nature and behavior of God.

God as expressed in three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.

The third division of the Jewish canon, also called by the Hebrew name Ketuvim. The other two divisions are the Torah (Pentateuch) and Nevi'im (Prophets); together the three divisions create the acronym Tanakh, the Jewish term for the Hebrew Bible.

Presented by:

Bible Odyssey has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this website, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.